Best Echo And Semi-Echo Fighters In Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Key Takeaways

• Echo Fighters in Super Smash Bros Ultimate are clones with modified stats; they expand existing fighters’ playstyles.
• Clones like Daisy, Richter, Dark Samus, and others have subtle differences from their originals, offering unique gameplay experiences.
• Characters like Lucina, Dr. Mario, Pichu, and others have distinct differences in their movesets, playstyles, and mechanics.

Echo Fighters is the newest addition introduced in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It’s a fancier new name for clones already designed since Super Smash Bros Melee. They were much simpler before with modified stats and animations. The purpose of Echo Fighters is to expand existing fighters’ playstyles.

Since everyone is here, the clones in the previous entries have returned with new movesets. Their new fighting styles aren’t fully different from those of their inspired fighters due to similar attacks and special moves. While they feel like semi-echoes, they greatly differentiate the experience with certain expertise.

14 Peach & Daisy

Royal Echoes

Daisy echoes Princess Peach as the easiest pair for players to transition. She offers little variation to expand Peach’s playstyle since they have the same moveset and float mechanic. Their only differences are seen through their animations, including a different colored Toad. Daisy is designed like an extra costume slot for Peach, making them similar to Street Fighter 2 Ken and Ryu.

They did have one difference in the earliest versions of Super Smash Bros Ultimate involving their down-special. Exclusively for opponents at higher percentages, Daisy could use her turnips for KO confirms, unlike Peach who throws her harder for KOs. This small difference was suddenly removed in update 3.0, balancing their designs as intended.

13 Simon & Richter

Brave Echoes

Richter follows his relative ancestor, Simon, with the same moves to zone the opponent. Both Belmonts use their whips and tools exactly how the ancestral family fights in Castlevania. They only differentiate through their taunts and down special.

Holy water is the most essential tool for Belmonts to confirm a KO. The multi-hit move is elemental based depending on the fighter. Simon’s down special is fire-based, igniting explosives like grenades much easier. Richter’s special doesn’t ignite as much since it’s aura-based. This is only greatly significant for Olimar when dealing with elemental weaknesses and strengths with his Pikmin, specifically red and blue Pikmin.

12 Pit & Dark Pit

Divine Mirrors

Dark Pit mirrors his rival counterpart Pit, making them the most accessible, all-around fighters. He has the same combo routes as his mirrored rival with their disjointed, multi-hit attacks. Even most of their specials are the same, letting them recover back to the stage with Palutena’s guidance or land with defending, reflective shields. Their only differences rest within the other two specials: side special and neutral special.

The Pits’ neutral and side specials are used similarly except with different attributes. Neutral special lets the angels shoot distant light arrows while side special makes them charge for a close-range powerful punch. Pit’s specials are weaker, though his arrow can curve better while his arm launches the opponent up, making them vulnerable for juggles. Dark Pit’s specials are stronger, though his arrows can’t curve as well to catch a diagonally angled opponent. His side special does launch the opponent horizontally for effective KOs, though the dark angel must be facing toward the closest blast zone. Facing away only pushes the opponent back, resetting neutral which doesn’t bring too much benefit for the Dark Pit.

11 Samus & Dark Samus

Replicating Bounty Hunters

Dark Samus is the replica copy of Samus, but more menacing. Since it copies the bounty hunter, they use arm cannons, bombs, and missiles to handle their opponents at long range. A notable difference is that their arm cannon is elemental based since Samus is fire-based while Dark Samus is electrical. Electric moves give better impact when struck, but can give back more recovery lag for the user during attack clank interactions.

Other distinct factors include their animation, which is a lot greater than expected. Dark Samus is much floatier than Samus, letting it linger more in the air. This makes creepy fighters more effective with advanced techniques like reverse special to mix up their movement. A flaw to its neutral stance is that it has a bigger hurtbox than Samus when jumping and rolling since Samus uses her ball form to shrink herself.

10 Legend Of Zelda

The Three Heroes

The Hero of Legends is passed down through multiple representatives in Super Smash Bros, leaving the swordsman skills up to Link, Young Link, and Toon Link. The three heroes similarly wield their swords with great coverage and power like forward-tilt and up-air. They even use back air and nair as their combo starters and safe pressure tools. While they are different fighters, how they wield their tools is very similar.

What significantly sets them apart is their specials. Each hero uses bombs, arrows, and boomerangs with varied range and power. While Toon Link and Young Link excel with their speed, arrows, and boomerangs, Link is the best with his remote bomb. Unlike the other younger heroes with bombs exploding on hit, Link can detonate his bomb at any time. This gives him the best pressure tool of the other two heroes while offering him advanced, damaging combo routes.

9 Lucina & Marth

Echoes Of Caution

Lucina closely follows Marth’s swordsmanship with notable changes to their swords. Marth’s sword is much longer compared to Lucina’s with its tipper. Perfectly distancing himself from the opponent rewards him with extra damage and knockback. This does force Marth mains to always find the sweet spot, which forces a cautious playstyle when facing fighters of various sizes and different hurtbox shifting.

Lucina’s sword has no tipper mechanic, making her playstyle more straightforward and consistent than the tipper swordsman. This does cost her range and KO power, which hinders her damage output and fatal blow opportunities. Despite her standard design, she’s still one of the best fundamental swordsmen.

8 Villager & Isabelle

Hardworking Fighters

Along with Villager is Isabelle who was invited to join the roster with their hardworking tools. Tom Nook’s coworkers bring multiple utensils for their zoning preference like Lloyd and slingshot. They even have some close-range options like turnip, bug net, and umbrella. What makes Isabelle a different fighter compared to Villager is how she utilizes her moveset.

Villager is designed as a better long-range zoner whereas Isabelle depends more on set-ups. Villager has more options to contest the enemy at a distance with his Lloyd and slingshot. He can even plant a tree to protect himself against other projectiles, strengthening his neutral game. Isabelle uses her specials like Lloyd and fishing rod to trap the stage, relying on the element of surprise. Her setups excel greatly during her advantage when the opponent is on the ropes.

7 Mario & Dr. Mario

Same Man, Different Degrees

Dr. Mario was a direct clone of Mario since Super Smash Bros Melee. Since then, he distanced himself away from his counterpart to become his own fighter. His current design is still reminiscent of Mario since they have only two notable differences: down-air and down-special.

The two Marios fight with the same moves, yet each attack produces a different reward. Mario is quicker with his attacks sending opponents upward for more consistent vertical combos and KOs like his up-air to up-special. Dr. Mario’s attacks like up-air send opponents more horizontally, carrying them to the side blast zone. He even has a unique feature that makes his neutral-air stronger near its end rather than its startup like Mario’s neutral-air. Dr. Mario sacrifices his speed for power like Ganondorf, making him rely on just a few interactions to earn the match’s momentum.

6 Pikachu & Pichu

Shocking Pair Of Mice

Pichu is a Super Smash Bros Melee veteran who grew a lot from his original counterpart, Pikachu. The two Pokemon are quick fighters with the same special moves to showcase their great neutral and speed. While Pichu plays similarly to Pikachu, his whole moveset provides a great cost.

Both fighters have similar neutral, though Pichu offers a better advantage with his moveset. He is a bit smaller and quicker, especially when using his special moves unlike Pikachu expanding his hurt box. Compared to Pikachu, Pichu brings more power to its attacks, though raises its risk with its self-damaging electricity. This makes certain whiffed attacks, including his normals, more committal due to his growing damage. This flaw only worsens since the Pichu is lighter, making him launch more easily when whiffing too many electric attacks.

5 Roy & Chrom

Echoes Of Aggression

Chrom and Roy are aggression incarnates, showcasing their great neutral game through speed and disjointed attacks. Their main difference involves their sword’s designs since Roy’s weapon has a sweet spot at the hilt, rewarding him greater damage at close range. His mechanic is straightforward, though the characters’ varied hurtbox shifting makes his rewards inconsistent and complex, unlike his echo. Since Chrom has no sweet spot, his combos are easier and more consistent to land without relying on distance, including his finishing blows.

Another big difference between the swordsmen is their up-special. Unlike Roy’s arch-angle attack like Marth and Lucina, Chrom’s up special is similar to Ike’s for a higher vertical attack. This lets him catch enemies in the air over him easily while having a huge hitbox in front of him. A small flaw is its inability to snap to the ledge, leaving him exposed.

4 Captain Falcon & Ganondorf

Power Incarnates

Ganondorf and Captain Falcon are the pure examples of rushdown ever since Super Smash Bros Melee. The two fighters have the most impactful moves in the game, especially their down-air. They can charge in any direction with their movement specials while having slow, powerful neutral-specials as their greatest punishment option. Though they have split from their echo versions, their movesets show some inspiration between them.

The greatest differences between the two fighters are their speed and side-special. Captain Falcon holds his neutral game with his speed, letting him link his attacks and grab setups consistently. Despite his better neutral, his approach options are straightforward since his side-special doesn’t grab. Ganondorf is slower with a lot more power in his attacks, especially his disjointed smash attacks. He can even grab opponents with his side special. It doesn’t take him many combos to take stock, making him the most feared fighter when gaining the advantage.

3 Ness & Lucas

Bound To Psi

Lucas and Ness fight similarly with their special psi powers. Their floaty air drift extends their approach and mixes up potentials during advanced techniques. They even have multiple solutions for projectiles with their reflective forward-smash and absorbing down-special.

Ness’ specials are additional benefits for his combo game and approach methods, emphasizing his neutral play. He can create longer combos and carry his opponents along the stage easily with multi-hit attacks like forward-air and up-air. Compared to his counterpart, Lucas’ long combos are more strict, though he still keeps up the damage output with his stronger attacks. Unlike Ness, his specials zone the opponent for KOs rather than combos, making him much better with the match momentum.

2 Ryu & Ken

Fighting The Streets

Ken and Ryu were the original inspirations for the Echo Fighter design. Since they’re from a traditional fighting game, they control like one. Ken is much faster with multi-hit properties on his attacks, forcing opponents to shield more. What Ryu lacks in speed is covered by his stronger hadoken, strengthening his pressure game at a distance.

Ken is fantastic at linking longer combos with weaker attack power while Ryu relies on shorter combos with impactful hits. Ken is the more aggressive, rushdown version of Ryu while the original street fighter plays a more defensive, whiff-punish playstyle.

1 Fox, Falco, & Wolf

Trio Of The Stars

Fox, Wolf, and Falco have similar designs but branch off their own expertise. Each is equipped with a gun, illusion, and reflector, making them have the same type of special. Despite the similar premise, each special has different attributes. While Fox uses his specials for movement and whiff punishes, Falco and Wolf can use their tools for more aggressive KO finishes.

Their fighting styles and normal attacks show their great, unique designs. Fox is the best with his faster ground game, encompassing his high speed to carry his opponents with several moves like dash-attack and up-tilt. Falco prefers the air with his higher jump height and great aerial drift to throw his multi-hit attacks like forward-air and neutral-air. Wolf sacrifices his speed for more power, making his attacks more impactful and disjointed with his claws like his forward-tilt and down-smash.